NOTES ON TWO SLUGS OF THP] GENUS VERONICELLA. 



By W. W. RoKBiNS and T. D. A. Cogkerell, 



Of Boulder, Colorado. 



Slugs of the genus Veronicella are numerous in the tropical regions 

 of both hemispheres, 154 species having been described up to the 

 jD resent time. Dr. D. F. Heynemann " has given a map of the world, 

 showing the distribution of the known species. In this map Austra- 

 lia is shown to be without Veronicella, with the exception of a couple 

 of species found at Brisbane; and these latter, according to Henry 

 Tryon,^ have almost certainly been introduced. Nothing is known 

 of Vej'oniceUa in New Guinea, where the related but very distinct 

 genus Prmna takes its place. The group to which the names Atopos, 

 Pnsma, and Padangia have been applied extends fi'om north Queens- 

 land through New Guinea to Amboina, Celebes, the southern Philip- 

 l^ines, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and Cochin China. Westward 

 it occupies the same general regions as Veronicella, but eastward it 

 seems to occur to the exclusion of it. Leaving the Austro-Malay region 

 and passing on to the islands of the Pacific, we again meet with species 

 of Veronicella, in New Caledonia, the Loj^alty Islands, the New Heb- 

 rides, and even as far as the Fijis and Tahiti. The species of the 

 Pacific Islands, noticeable for their rather small size, have been de- 

 scribed from rather inadequate material, with the exception of F. 

 willeyi Collinge ^ from Lifu, Loyalty Islands. Further details have 

 been especially desired in the hope of throwing some light on the 

 origin of these animals. They are more or less arboreal, and the pre- 

 sumption Avould be that they were originally carried to the islands on 

 floating trees; but the available ocean currents appear to set wholly 

 from the American side, implying South American origin and a voyage 

 of extraordinary length. It does not appear possible at the present 

 time to demonstrate any close affinity with either the South American 

 or Asiatic groups of Veronicella; but when we know more about the 



''Die Geographische Verbreitung der Nachtschnecken, 1905, pi. 2. 

 * Queensland Agricultural Journal, July, 1S99, p. 5. 

 " Willey's Zoological Results, Pt. 4, 1899. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXVI— No. 1671. 



381 



